Bloggings On Immigration Law And Policy

July 08, 2010

If a store you regularly shopped at announced that it was going to start frisking customers from your ethnic group (or just vaguely resembling your ethnic group), chances are you would steer clear of that crazy shop.And that's pretty much how Mexico sees Arizona where it spends billions of dollars a year. Arizona Governor Brewer just announced she is canceling a conference with Mexican governors in Phoenix after a number of invited attendees suggested some interesting things the governor might do with the invitation (well, that's what I assume happened).

Governor Brewer's reaction:

The people of Arizona and the people of America support what Arizona
has done. ... For them to basically not attend here because of that, I
think is unfair.

That's kind of like the store saying that the the policy is justified because the other customers in the store support the frisking policy.

My favorite part of the story? When Governor Richardson of New Mexico and Governor Schwarzenegger suggest not canceling the conference and simply dis-inviting Brewer.

While racial profiling has been the main topic of contention with Arizona's SB1070, the Justice Department is focusing on preemption. This is a constitutional argument and basically means that if the Constitution reserves a power for the federal government, states can only regulate in the area to the extent Congress permits. This is smart thinking and if the Justice Department wins, it will be easier to attack some of the other over-reaching state immigration laws.

About The Author

Greg Siskind is a partner in Siskind Susser's Memphis, Tennessee, office. After graduating magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University, he received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago. Mr. Siskind is a member of AILA, a board member of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and a member of the ABA, where he serves on the LPM Publishing Board as Marketing Vice Chairman. He is the author of several books, including the J Visa Guidebook and The Lawyer's Guide to Marketing on the Internet. Mr. Siskind practices all areas of immigration law, specializing in immigration matters of the health care and technology industries. He can be reached by email at gsiskind@visalaw.com.

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of ILW.COM.